


Russian Affection

by endof_theline



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, First Meetings, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Past Abuse, Russian Bucky Barnes, Russian Natasha Romanov, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:42:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22071244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/endof_theline/pseuds/endof_theline
Summary: Flower shop owner Tony Stark breaks up with his abusive girlfriend while his best friend Natasha encourages him to come meet Steve's friend who has just come over from Russia. It's just a shame that the abuse hides just how much Steve's friend is head over heels for him.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers & Tony Stark, past Tony Stark/Sunset Bain - Relationship
Comments: 15
Kudos: 274
Collections: 2019 WinterIron_Holiday_Exchange





	Russian Affection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Estelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estelle/gifts).



> This is for Estelle for the WinterIron Holiday Exchange. I used one long prompt and a couple short ones so I hope you enjoy this one!

Tony let a sigh slip from lips as he separates another dead flower from the new bunch he got early this morning, he had been doodling new bouquets all morning and nothing had really caught his attention. Nothing really had caught him since he broke up with Sunset, of course he knew it had to happen but he felt so alone that he wondered if it had to be so sudden.

The bell above the door rings out into the silent store making Tony look up with a smile plastered on his face, trying desperately for it not to look fake, but as soon as he saw that it was Natasha he dropped the fake smile.

"Hey Tony, how are you doing?" She asked in a soft tone that made the corner of his lip twitch upwards for a split second before he went back to sorting the flowers.

"Okay, I guess" He mumbled sadly and leans into her when she came around to his side and put her arm around his shoulders "It's weird, she was horrible to me but I miss her"

"You miss the company" Natasha pointed out and Tony hummed with a tiny nod, Tony knew Natasha was right but he didn't want to admit it "She was awful, she beat you and she never let you feel good about anything"

"I know, I know, and yeah you’re probably right. I’m just lonely I guess” Tony sighed hopelessly, he knew Natasha was trying to be all secretive about it but Tony could easily see that Nat was texting someone “You’re clearly not, who are you texting?”

“Nosey much” Natasha teased, tapping Tony’s nose gently with her phone making him scrunch it up cutely “He’s a friend of Steve’s, you remember him right?”

Of course Tony remembers Steve, how could he possibly forget about the man who stepped in between him and Sunset when she was screaming at him over something so tiny that Tony wasn’t even sure what it was about. She shoved him up against the tattoo shop’s window, luckily they had closed for the day, and Steve had shoved his way between them and sent her off before bringing Tony into the shop and let him stay until he had stopped shaking and Natasha had come to take Tony home.

She later explained that Steve owns and runs the store, the pair of them had been friends for a long time and had known each other for longer though neither could really remember how and when they met for the first time. Natasha had planned to introduce them soon.

Tony just nodded to save face however and Natasha smiled as she explained "Well, one of his best friends is Russian and he's just moved over here to help Steve in the shop, Steve wants me and his friend to meet so he feels a little more at home, with me being Russian and all"

"That's pretty sweet of him" Tony chuckled softly, what little he knows about Steve told Tony this was exactly the type of thing he would do.

"Yeah, we're going to meet up for some lunch, Steve, his friend and I. Why don't you come with?" She suggested excitedly and Tony sunk further into his chair and into himself awkwardly "I'm sure they won't mind and Steve will probably like having someone to talk to in English"

"I don't know, I don't want to intrude" Tony shrugged as he started to pick at the skin around his nails, a nervous habit he had picked up while he was seeing Sunset.

"If I text them and they say yes, then will you come?" She asked, phone at the ready, and her fingers flew across the keyboard as soon as Tony nodded his head. They weren't waiting long at all as Steve replied almost instantly that he'd love for Tony to come and his friend agreed as soon as Steve said yes, Natasha held the phone up with a smug look on her face as Tony read the texts.

Tony huffed but slid out of his seat to grab his coat and wallet from out back, the keys from out under the desk and as he and Natasha walked to the front door, he flicked the lights off and flipped his sign to closed. He locked up and looked at Natasha somewhat grumpily.

"It'll be good for you, we just talked about you being lonely" She pointed out, still smiling happily "Besides, we're meeting at the coffee shop that you love so at least you'll get some good coffee out of it"

"Why didn't you say so? Let's go!" Tony cheered, taking Natasha's hand and leading her to the coffee shop excitedly. Natasha knew that would cheered him up even if nothing else did, even if he hated the whole situation, he'd love the coffee.

When they pushed the door open, the soft lighting and warm coffee smells hit them and Tony instantly smiled happily. Steve and his friend were already sat down with a cup in front of them as spoke softly, as soon as Steve spotted Natasha he waved them over. Tony had been behind Natasha and as soon as he came to Natasha's side, Steve's friend blurted out something in Russian making Natasha laugh before sitting down beside him as they started to chat in Russian happily, the pair smiling and laughing instantly, Tony hesitated enough for Steve to take note and stand up to shake his hand with a bright smile on his face.

"Hey there Tony, it's good to meet you properly!" He spoke softly but he was cheerful and excited still as he spoke, Tony took his hand and smiled back.

"Hi Steve, it's nice to finally meet you when I'm not having a panic attack" He joked, wincing internally, but Steve just laughed along with him and guided him to sit beside him so he was next to Natasha and opposite Steve's friend "You'll be glad to know that I broke up with Sunset, the girl that was shouting at me"

"Oh good, I'm glad. She wasn't anything good and you'll be much better off without her snapping at you for such stupid shit" Steve kept grinning and nodded definitively like he was absolutely sure of his statement.

"Well it helped that she was also cheating on me with my ex-boyfriend" Tony shrugged and noticed how Steve's friend turned to look at him as soon as he said 'ex-boyfriend' making Tony curse himself and tense up, knowing how strict they are Russian about being gay.

"Buck, you're freaking Tony out, introduce yourself before you just stare at people" Steve joked and knocked his shoulder against 'Buck's' and the Russian man shook his head a little and smiled softly.

"Hey, I'm James but everyone calls me Bucky" He reached over the table to shake Tony's hand making the other smile happily back and shake his hand, once he leant back Steve whispered in Bucky's ear making his eyes go wide suddenly "Oh I'm fine with the whole gay thing, I mean I am gay so I kinda have to be, but yeah I didn't mean to scare you or anything!"

Natasha noticed the look in Bucky’s eyes, the same sparkle that she had when she had met her girlfriend after moving to America where she wasn’t allowed to show her emotions, she knew instantly that Bucky had fallen for Tony and this wasn’t just a wanting fling for company, this was something serious already. Unlike Natasha however, where she was hesitant and nervous about expressing her feelings especially about how she was feeling towards her now-girlfriend, Bucky soon took it in her stride.

“You look so much better, Tony” Steve complimented him happily and Bucky grinned when Tony’s cheeks tinted pink as he smiled down at the table, Natasha took Tony’s coffee order and left him with the pair, though she never took her eyes off of him.

“Thank you Steve, I’m starting to feel better too” Tony nodded, the soft smile still on his face as he looked up somewhat shyly through his lashes. Bucky looked around them and seemed almost a little surprised when he realised no one had even bat an eye at the trio "Tasha tells me you guys are working together now"

"Oh yeah, Buck and I have been friends for ages and he's a good artist both on paper and with a needle, couldn't imagine anyone else in the studio really" Steve explained happily as Bucky nodded and smiled alongside him, the pair looked close and Tony could see how they could be mistaken as a couple if he didn't already know Steve's boyfriend.

"Where do you work, Tony?" Bucky asked curiously and Tony perked up straight away, he was always happy to talk about his little flower shop since he was really proud of it. His flower shop was a show of his defiance to his parents and how much he had grown since he was a teenager.

“I own and run a little flower shop, it’s a few doors down from where you guys work actually” Tony chirped happily and Bucky grinned instantly when he realised that he was working so close to Tony “I’ve had it for a few years now and I’ve always got pretty steady business in there too”

“That’s amazing, Tony, you do everything alone?” Bucky asked with a smile on his face, completely ignoring the look Steve was giving - a man who was also doing everything alone before Bucky came to help him.

“Yep, my family didn’t believe me at all and this helped me prove them wrong” Tony explained and blushed sweetly at the attention from Bucky, Natasha rolled her eyes playfully as she brought over her and Tony’s drinks. Tony immediately made grabby hands for his drink and pouted when Natasha just raised her eyebrows at him and he whined “Please, Tasha”

“How can you say no to that cute face?” Bucky teased easily making Tony blush and laugh sweetly, the younger had a smile plastered on his face that Natasha hadn't seen for a very long time. Natasha already knew Bucky was going to be good for Tony, no matter where the relationship went.

Tony glared at Natasha over the counter annoyed as she stood back with a smug look on her face, Natasha hadn't dropped the subject since she brought it up the day after they met Bucky and it was now getting closer to a week since they went out for coffee with the two boys.

"I'm telling you Tony, I know what flirting looks like and Bucky was definitely flirting with you!" She pressed on even while Tony had the same scowl plastered on his face.

"And I'm telling you that he wasn't flirting with me, can we drop this now?" Tony asked fed up with all this, like it wasn't bad enough that he had just broken up with Sunset because she was sleeping with Ty and now Natasha is pushing Bucky on him when the man had _clearly_ just been joking around with her.

"One last question and then I'll drop it, okay?" Natasha offered and smiled when Tony hesitated before nodding with a small huff "Why do you think he wasn't flirting?"

"Because he was joking, Steve jokingly flirted with me and then Bucky started to do it as well. He wasn't being serious, just messing around" Tony explained sadly, the look was hard to miss on his face as it was clear as day that Tony was upset about Bucky just messing around with him. Natasha nodded slowly as it dawned on her that Tony really believed that Bucky wasn't serious, he wasn't annoyed because of Natasha kept teasing about them flirting but he was upset about Bucky's flirting being a joke.

Tony disappeared out back and as soon as his back was turned Natasha was texting Bucky, her fingers flew across the screen as she explained to him that if he was serious about dating Tony and his affection was something true, then he really needed to prove what he was saying wasn't a joke. 

An armful of flowers pushed through the door before Natasha could spot Tony behind them all as he laid them down on the counter, looking frustrated but the look was ruined by the soft red and orange petals scattered in his hair. Natasha's laugh was soft as she started to help Tony arrange them into bouquets.

It wasn't even ten minutes after Natasha and Bucky's texts when the Russian appeared in the doorway with a lopsided smirk on his face, his eyes fixed on Tony even when both of them turned to look at Bucky.

"Oh! Hi Bucky, how are you?" Tony chirped happily, the gloomy look on his face vanished instantly as he smiled.

"I'm good, sweet thing, how are you doing?" Bucky asked, casually throwing in the affectionate name that made Tony blush shyly and look away from him slightly.

"I'm okay, can I help you at all?" Tony looked up through his lashes that made Bucky's steps faltered as he walked over to the counter, the smirk slipping for a second before it became a full smile instead. Natasha desperately tried not to laugh as both men had forgotten that she was standing right beside them as she looked between Tony being bashful and shy and Bucky's cocky smile but soft eyes as he looked at Tony.

"Quite possibly" Bucky hummed as he reached over, moving slowly as he knew a little about Tony's past partners, and plucked one of the petals out of Tony's hair with a raised eyebrow which just made Tony go scarlett as he whipped his head around to scowl at Natasha, although the look was really just lost on her as she grinned back at him "Tony-" Said man's head whipped around instantly to look at the man, still holding the petal carefully "-would you like to go out for dinner with me tonight, after both of us close up shop?"

Tony blinked at him, stunned for a moment, before he nodded dumbly until Natasha bumped his shoulder and he snapped out of it "Uh y-yeah, sounds great Bucky!" 

"Perfect, can't wait" He winked with that damn smirk back on his face, the pair just looking at each other for a moment before Natasha muttered something in Russian that was lost on Tony but Bucky whipped his head whipped around to scowl at her as he spat back at her. 

The pair started to bicker in Russian, the words meaningless to Tony who never learned the language, but that didn't stop his wide eyes and red cheeks as he listened to the language easily flow from Bucky's mouth. He had heard Natasha speak Russian loads of times before, but it just sounded different coming from Bucky, it sounded so much better.

The only thing that stopped their arguing was a ping coming from Bucky's phone, he glared at Natasha before checking the text, his eyes going wider in alarm as he texted back rapidly.

"I gotta go, Stevie's run into some trouble with a guy at the shop. I'll pick up tonight Tony, Nat can you give him my number?" Bucky explained in a rush, at the nod from Natasha he leant over the counter and kissed Tony's cheek with another wink "See you tonight, Tony" 

"S-See you later, Bucky" He muttered in shock as he just blinked at the man's back before looking to Natasha who was back to looking smug, Bucky was gone by the time Tony pointed at her with a scowl "This doesn't mean anything!"

"He just kissed you!" She exclaimed, completely shocked how Tony could take that any other way than the way he meant.

"Isn't that just a normal thing, I thought Russians did that too?" Tony asked confused, Natasha just wanted to scream but instead sighed.

“Not even slightly”

“Oh… he’s very affectionate then” 

Oh how Natasha wanted to slap him.

If Natasha had wanted to slap Tony then, she really wanted to slap him now. She had been on a video call with Tony for the last hour or two as he tried to pick out his outfit, he had closed up an hour early just to get ready and Bucky had texted him that he was coming an hour later than he originally planned to. She had seen so much more of Tony than she ever wanted to and she had seen him in so many different outfits that she was sure that she had seen his entire wardrobe now.

"Tony, you look fantastic, stop worrying so much because Bucky would like you even if you turned up in a trash can" She teased which thankful took some stress off of Tony's face, the younger was almost vibrating with how much he seemed to be shaking with nerves.

"That isn't as comforting as you think it is" He jeered playfully making her roll her eyes at him.

"Who says I was comforting you? Stop messing with your hair and wear your leather jacket" Natasha scolded him and laughed when Tony poked his tongue out and slid the thick jacket on, it was something both Natasha and Tony had agreed on straight away, before Tony’s phone dinged with a message from Bucky to let him know that he was outside “You look great, have a good time!” 

“Thanks Tasha!” He chirped happily before hanging up the call, he fixed his hair one more time before rushing out with his wallet and phone in one hand and his keys in the other. Stuffing his phone and wallet in his pocket as he struggled with the door, trying to do things way too quickly than he should be.

Bucky grinned as he watched Tony fumble with his keys, almost dropping them once, before twirling around to smile at Bucky although his eyes quickly slid from Bucky’s face to the beautiful bike that he was stood behind.

“Hope you don’t mind, but I thought we could take my bike” Bucky offered and laughed when Tony nodded quickly “You like motorbikes, Tony?”

“I like things with engines” He blurted out as he rushed to the bike, running his hands over the smooth metal as he whispered under his breath “She’s beautiful”

“Must be my thing, huh? You look fantastic” Bucky smirked as Tony looked up to him with a roll of his eyes, the smaller eagerly accepted the spare helmet and gloves.

“Thank you, you look really good too, Bucky” He stood up and brushed the invisible dirt of his shirt carefully, Bucky hadn’t actually taken his eyes off of Tony for a second since he had first seen him.

“O-Oh thanks, um, I was thinking about going to a little dinner, if that’s okay with you that is!” Bucky hurried his words out nervously, a small frown forming on his face as he realised how stupid he must sound.

“Sounds great, I was really hoping that you suggest something like that instead of something fancy” Tony grinned as he slipped the gloves on and fixed them properly, looking like an expert as he sorted himself out and slipped the helmet on with a bright smile on his face.

“I don’t exactly feel comfortable in fancy places just yet, my English is good but I don’t want to mess up in a place like that” Bucky rubbed the back of his neck before looking Tony up and down with a smirk easily slipping back into place on his face “We should get you some leathers and a helmet of your own, then you could ride with me whenever you wanted” 

Tony somehow smiled even more as he nodded, following Bucky’s lead onto the bike and wrapping his arms around him when the bike roared to life before they were speeding away towards the dinner Bucky knew.

Tony soaks up the affection from Bucky like a sponge, and since all the flirting came to Bucky like breathing and he was now free to the fleeting touches which just made Tony smile and blush which, of course, only encouraged Bucky to keep teasing Tony with them.

They talk for what seems like hours, although they definitely weren’t out for that long. Bucky tells stories about being a soldier, including the story of his accident that led him to leave the army, and describes how he learnt to tattoo, pointing out a few of his tattoos that he actually did by himself. He talks about the struggles of knowing that he was gay in a country where he was in danger for just being himself, Tony couldn’t help but remember Natasha’s tale and realise how similar it was to Bucky’s.

Tony ends up talking about his neglectful family and the education that he was forced to give up, he wanted to be an engineer or a mechanic, he had always wanted to learn about engines and how they worked ever since he was a little kid. Though it almost gets shadowed by how Tony talks about how he ended up owning and running his little flower shop by himself.

Whenever either of them spoke, the other was constantly enraptured in what they were saying and their attention never strayed. The other dinners kept smiling and cooing over the pair as they past them, a couple even stopping to compliment them on what a sweet couple they made.

Once they manage to drag themselves out of the dinner, both of them having to work in the morning, Bucky drives a little slower than before as he drives Tony home. If Tony was holding him a little tighter than needed, Bucky sure wasn’t going to complain about it, that’s for sure. Tony slid off the back of the bike and took the helmet off carefully, shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair with a soft laugh bubbling out of him.

“Uh you- you should hang on to the stuff, gives me a good excuse to come round soon” Bucky mumbled and blushed slightly, Tony laughs again before leaning forward and placing a kiss on the top of Bucky’s helmet softly. Bucky tries not to look desperate when he yanked his own helmet off to kiss Tony’s cheek.

“You better not keep me waiting then” Tony teases as he fishes his keys out and unlocked the front door to his shop.

“‘Course not, sweet heart!” Bucky calls over before pulling his helmet back on and revving his engine with a boyish grin on his face that shone in his eyes, Tony just laughs and waves off Bucky who lets out a loud ‘Whoop’ as he sped down the street.

As soon as Tony’s inside the building, Natasha is trying to ring him to find out about his date. Tony easily explained everything about his diner with Bucky, although he refused to call it a date and kept going on and on about how much of a good friend Bucky was to him already.

Natasha was going to scream when all of this was over and done with.

* * *

As the weeks went by, Tony and Bucky went out more and more. Lunches or dinners, trips out or nights in, it didn’t matter as the boys were just so wrapped up together. Natasha had spoken to Tony plenty and he kept his stance that Bucky wasn’t trying to date him, that he was just being friendly and that he was just spending time with a friend instead of anything serious.

Natasha had had enough of this argument over text or phone calls so she visited Tony in his shop to talk to him in person, much to Tony’s annoyance. Tony kept on dismissing Bucky’s affection as jokes or being friendly.

“He’s probably just happy that he can flirt with whoever he wants to now, he doesn’t have to hide anymore” Tony sighed resigned, he looked upset and angry but he also looked tired and fed up with Natasha. Despite this, the arguing continued on and on, only stopping when customers came into the store when Tony would grin brightly and Natasha would busy herself with tidying up the store or looking at the flowers in the store.

The fight continued on making Tony completely forget that he had invited Bucky over to have lunch with him in the store, the timing couldn’t have been worse for Tony however.

“Bucky doesn’t have feelings for me, he is not flirting with me, he doesn’t have a crush so stop getting my hopes up!” Tony shouted furiously before Bucky just cleared his throat awkwardly making Tony’s face go scarlet before he whipped his head around to curse at Natasha in Italian and storming away. Both Russians noticed the tears in Tony’s eyes as he slams the office door shut behind him, they just stare at the door for a moment in shock before Natasha swallows thickly.

“Tony thinks you’re just teasing him or joking around when you flirt with him” She explains softly as she rubs her arm before giving him a small smile and rushing away out of the store, leaving them to talk to each as she decided to make it up to Tony later, this needed to be fixed now.

Bucky dug out the keys from behind the counter and locks the door, flipping the sign to closed. The last thing they needed is for a customer to come in while Tony and him are talking this out, this was something that needed not to be interrupted at all.

“Hey Tones” Bucky cooed as he knocked on the door gently “Am I allowed to come in? I’m not mad or upset or anything, I promise” There was no response but the door opened slightly and Bucky could hear Tony sniffle in the background.

Inside of the office, Tony was sat on the floor by the door - he was curled up with his head tucked between his knees as he cried. Bucky shut the door again and sat down beside Tony with a soft smile on his face as he looked over to Tony.

“Can I see you?” Bucky asked gently and Tony wiped his face with his long sleeve of his top before he looked up a little bit to him “Hi cutie”

“You think I’m cute like this?” He asked sounding confused despite the shy smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

“Well, I don’t like to see you crying but you look kinda cute because your cheeks are flushed” Bucky explains a little and Tony smiles a little more before it starts to droop again “Why, did someone say something about how you cry?”

“Some of my past partners say I’m an ugly crier, they said I looked gross. They said a lot of things like that, lots of people I’ve dated also said no one really loves me or ever will, they weren’t the best” Tony wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and shuffled closer to Bucky’s side before the Russian pulled him into his chest carefully, Bucky wasn’t going to speak up about it but he did realise that Tony’s ex-partners are probably the reason that he didn’t believe Bucky was trying to seriously flirt with him. 

Tony starts to vent into Bucky’s chest, telling him everything horrible or twisted his ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends had told him in the past. Every hit or kick Tony had received from them, Tony explained the situations they occured in and showed a couple of the scars he was left with as well. Bucky held him close and nodded along, just letting Tony get everything out and off his chest in a space he felt comfortable in.

After a moment of quiet, after Tony had run out of words and stories, Bucky cleared his throat softly and rubbed Tony’s side gently

“Thank you for telling me everything Tony” Bucky started with making the smaller smile up at him with bright eyes “And if you are interested in anything, I have been serious this whole time and I am very interested in you”

Bucky startles at first when Tony lets a few tears slip down his cheeks, a small hiccup escaping him before he covered his mouth with his hands and cried softly “I so wish I knew that you were serious with me so I could have flirted back or at least reacted properly to you!”

“Oh sweetheart, I don’t mind that you didn’t realise. I loved the shy little smiles and your sweet blushes that I got for my efforts” He teased to make Tony giggle a little before Bucky cupped his cheeks softly and dried Tony’s cheeks with his thumbs making Tony duck his head and blush up to his ears “I gotta tell you before you really make up your mind about me, Tony. I’ve never actually been with anyone before” 

“Aw Buckaroo” Tony cooed as he looked back up to Bucky who was avoiding Tony’s eyes before Tony cups Bucky’s cheek in return and purrs something in Italian with his perfect Italian accent rolling off his tongue like a natural that made Bucky just blinked at him before blushing a little bit more.

“You can’t use that Italian accent on me, you sound too good, it’s unfair!” Bucky whines with a little pout on his lips that made Tony laugh with a huge smile on his face.

“Well then you can’t use you’re Russian accent and nicknames on me because that’s not fair on me either, you sound better than I do with my accent!” Tony defended himself with his own pout on his face that Bucky was just laughing and smiling happily, Bucky’s eyes drifted down to Tony’s pouty lips as his smile grew softer and fonder.

“Can I kiss you, Tony?” Bucky asked in a whisper to which Tony nodded softly and shuffle slightly to lean up closer to Bucky, Bucky met Tony in the middle in a clumsy kiss that made Tony giggle before taking the lead that made the pair of them melt.

Bucky could feel the weight that had been on his shoulders since he realised that he was gay drop off his shoulders as Tony felt a spark of new hope when he pulled away to lean his forehead against Bucky’s softly, the pair of them just smiling at each other happily.

Bucky huffed out a small laugh as he pulled back from Tony to look him in the eyes with a soft smile on his face.

“I think I’m going to like it in America”

**Author's Note:**

> I really liked this one and I hope you all did too!
> 
> Feedback is always welcomed with open arms.


End file.
